Messianic Jews and Citizenship in Israel

By | April 22, 2008
6 Comments

This might be of interest to some readers:

In a landmark decision today, the Supreme Court of Israel ratified a settlement between twelve Messianic Jewish believers and the State of Israel, which states that being a Messianic Jew does not prevent one from receiving citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return or the Law of Citizenship, if one is a descendent of Jews on one’s father’s side (and thus not Jewish according to halacha).

This Supreme Court decision brought an end to a legal battle that has carried on for two and a half years. The applicants were represented by Yuval Grayevsky and Calev Myers from the offices of Yehuda Raveh & Co., and their legal costs were subsidized by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.

All twelve of the applicants were denied citizenship solely based on grounds that they belong to the Messianic Jewish community. Most of them received letters stating that they would not receive citizenship because they “commit missionary activity“. One of the applicants was told by a clerk at the Ministry of Interior that because she “committed missionary activity“, she is “acting against the interests of the State of Israel and against the Jewish people“. These allegations are not only untrue, but they also do not constitute legal grounds to deny one’s right to immigrate to Israel.

This important victory paves the way for persons who have Jewish ancestry on their father’s side to immigrate to Israel freely, whether or not they belong to the Messianic Jewish community. This is yet another battle won in our war to establish equality in Israel for the Messianic Jewish community just like every other legitimate stream of faith within the Jewish world.

Wishing you happy and blessed holidays,

Calev Myers
Founder and Chief Counsel
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice

I don’t see this notice online, but something similar is here.

Update (4/23): The Jerusalem Post now has the story.

A Photo, 15 Years Later

By | April 21, 2008
9 Comments

I was preparing a lesson on Passover a few nights ago when I came across this photo taken on Mt. Gerizim in 1993.

Mt Gerizim summit with students, 78-12tb

Our only connection was that we were all students at a school in Jerusalem and we pooled our money together to hire an Arab taxi to take us to biblical sites in the West Bank for a day.  But 15 years later, I’ve surprised at how many I’m still in touch with.  And to think about where we are now.

  • I’ve heard from all but one in the last year. The one I haven’t heard from in 15 years.
  • One is now a Bible professor (with a PhD). 
  • One is a PhD student (in Bible).
  • One is a m—— in Israel. 
  • One committed an unspeakable evil, but has repented and walks with the Lord (but will live with the consequences for the rest of this life).
  • One of them carried a letter for me to a friend, in which I told him to date the bearer of the letter.  (They now have 4 kids.)
  • One of them is one of my best friends.
  • One of them is married to the pastor of a Sovereign Grace church.
  • One of them is a guy I respect more than almost anyone else.
  • One has a Land Rover with a dead engine.
  • Two occasionally comment on this blog.
  • All are married and are walking with the Lord.

Amazing.

Things I Come Across #3

By | April 18, 2008
3 Comments

The minds that God makes are not all alike (5-min video).

Here are some reasons that pastors should blog (that may apply to non-pastors).

C.S. Lewis has some tips on writing for children.  They seem like good tips.  The funny thing is that my kids can’t understand his writing (when I read the Narnia books to them).  Sometimes I can’t.  And at the store today I saw that they are selling children’s editions of Narnia.

Sovereign Grace has a new CD out: Come Weary Saints.  And SG leader Bob Kauflin’s Worship Matters has been released.

I got a sneak peak at some of the goodies going in the ESV Study Bible.  It’s impressive.  Maybe more on that later.

Did you see the Passover sacrifice video?

These are the best medical photos of the year.

Most of my readers probably are familiar with the name David Noel Freedman, from bibliographies if nothing more.  He passed away last week.  I was privileged to attend one of his classes a few months ago.  He was a giant.

Things I Come Across #2

By | April 14, 2008
5 Comments

My idea of justice: a Hamas rocket hitting Jimmy Carter on his visit to Sderot.

This movie seems to be popular among some evangelicals.  If you haven’t yet seen the trailer for Expelled, you can here.

I don’t think that taxes are bad per se, but I think it’s a great evil when the single greatest expense of the federal government is welfare for old people.  This chart will give you an idea for where all of your tax dollars go.

For fun, you can watch a guy skydive from one airplane to another.

Things I Come Across

By | April 6, 2008
5 Comments

This blog continues its descent into worthlessness and frivolousness.  Oh, wait. Was it ever anything other?

It’s not just us moving to Dallas; everyone is!  

An incredible statistic: About 56 percent of adults bought books last year.  So what did the rest of them spend their money on???

The title of the book is The Manasseh Hill Country Survey.  Three appendices in the table of contents are entitled “…the Massaneh Hill Country Survey.”  Oops! (Does this tip you off to what I’ve been reading lately?)

I’m not suing anyone.  For those who knew about the falafel stand that I was thinking of taking to court, they paid me and so I won’t get an opportunity to practice my litigation skills.

If you’ve never thanked the Lord that engineers know how to test bridges for wind-induced vibrations, you might after watching this!

Shopping tip of the week: If you’re looking to build your Libronix (Logos) library with some decent books for real cheap, take a look at the Baker Digital Reference Library here, but order it here for $10 (until 4/19).

I finished the paper on Jehu without mentioning Jesus even once.  I present the paper to the class on Friday.  Now I’m working on a paper on where the pigs drowned (G/G/G).  I bet you’re impressed with how my doctorate program focuses on the most important things in life!

Announcement: I am the PresidenT

By | April 1, 2008
22 Comments

I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed president of The Masters’ Colege.  While this may come as a surprise to many, the current president has decided to focus his energies on his grandchildren.  Thus the bored of trustees searched and found me.  While some might object that I do not have a doctorate, the college or seminary (one of them, not yet decided) will award me an honorary doctorate, thus proving that I am qualified.  Some might object that I’m not connected enough to the college to be ready to take over.  I acknowledge the fact that except for two semesters in 2001-02, for the last 11 years, I have been 8,000 miles away from the school.  And this year while in Dallas I don’t have a clue about what is going on, except for 573 emails from Sherry Staffs each day.  But the board has decided that “not having a clue” is really an advantage.  Others might object that I have no experience.  But experience is over-rated.  And I would have you know that in grade school, I ran for ASB vice-president several times.  Since then, I have been a community leader.  I’m not a first-term senator, but otherwise I have as much experience as either Obama or Hillary, and I’m only being appointed president of a college with 1,000 students, not commander-in-chief of 300 million people.  So, take that!  But really, the administration has acknowledged my remarkable skills at bringing people together, my ability to give mesmerizing speeches to groups larger than 20, and my giftedness at taking photographs of mounds of dirt.  I accept their appointment with profound humility, and declare my readiness to prove to the world just why that other “Christian” college (notice the quotation marks!) in Southern California is far inferior. 

Many presidents-elect would prefer to dilly-dally before announcing grand plans about what they will do upon their coronation, but I will not offer silly excuses such as needing to better understand the students, faculty and staff.  Hesitance is for losers.  So I boldly offer my plan of action:

1. Build a wedding chapel under the Pines.  This will save students the expense of paying for a church, and will save travel time as well.

2. Offer a money-back guarantee for any girls who graduate without an Mrs. degree.  (Note to board members: financially this will work because we’ll offer 90% scholarships to all male seniors who are married.  If that doesn’t work, we just won’t grant degrees to guys unless they marry a TMC girl.)

3. Convert the gym to a permanent chapel, and build a new basketball court in the parking lot.  Parking will not be allowed in the basketball court from 4-4:30 pm each day.  Players will be provided with sunscreen, so that their delicate skin is not damaged by playing outside in the sunshine.

4. Buy more books for the library. Way more books.

5. Add new courses to the Bible department: History of Ancient Israel I; History of Ancient Israel II; History of Ancient Israel III; History of Ancient Israel IV.  Required, of course, for everyone.

6. Require that all Music majors go to Israel for a semester, preferably during their senior year.

7. Change the calendar to add two weeks off of classes for Sukkot in the fall and two weeks off for Passover in the spring.

8. Use the money for athletic scholarships for summer missions trips.

9. Forbid professors from having blogs, especially on April 1.

**Personal request: please do not forward this post/link to anyone or tell anyone about it.  It is only for the amusement of my regular readers. I make this request because it might be misunderstood by those who don’t know me and don’t read here regularly.  Thanks.**

UPDATE: I went from fired to president in a mere two years (4/1/06) and today was certainly better than April 1 last year!

A Movie You Should Watch

By | March 27, 2008
8 Comments

It looks like I’m not going to say much about Spring Break, given that some time has passed and I really need to spend a lot more time with my friend Jehu.  I’ll say simply that it was probably my best Spring Break when I didn’t leave home.  Admittedly, it feels weird to call wherever I am “home,” but I wasn’t off in some strange land without my wife and kids, so let’s call it home.  We had a wonderful time with a group of students who drove forever to see us.  We saw where JFK was shot, visited DTS, had a “work day” (and barbecue), played games, and read the Gospel accounts through Passion Week.  ushpizin

We also watched Ushpizin.  It’s possible that you have never heard of this because it is an Israeli movie (and in Hebrew).  But I checked at two Blockbusters and they both had it available for rent, which means that somebody is watching it.  The story is about a religious couple in Jerusalem who is celebrating Sukkot (Tabernacles) when a couple of guests (ushpizin) show up.  I liked the movie because 1) it is so very Israeli; 2) it has so much Jewish culture, especially if you know a little about Sukkot; 3) the characters are interesting; 4) the storyline is not the same old Hollywood storyline; 5) it covered the range of emotions; 6) it was good to hear Hebrew again.  

If you’ve been to IBEX for a semester, you’ll enjoy it.  If you’ve been in the fall semester, you’ll like it even more (if you forgot what a pitam is, read this).  Even if these don’t apply, you might like watching something different than standard Hollywood fare.

All Over the Place

By | March 26, 2008
3 Comments

Need something to read?  Check out the 2008 Christianity Today Book Awards

I’m not as old as J. I. Packer, but I concur with his reflections on God’s surprises:

The high spots of my life present themselves in retrospect as a series of surprises —happy surprises, from the hand of a very gracious God. Is that unusual? I doubt it. But I also doubt that we dwell on the happy surprises as often and as thoughtfully as we should. There is great wisdom in the elderly children’s chorus, “Count your blessings—name them one by one—and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”  Continued here.

Persecution of believers in Israel is not new, but it’s not often that it’s covered by the Jerusalem Post. 

If you’ve wondered why Easter was so early this year (a month earlier than Passover), here’s the answer.  As a matter of fact, Easter won’t be this early again until 2160.

Though I’ve spent this year studying at DTS, I’ve probably learned more from a professor at TEDS than any professor here.  That’s largely because most of my study has been in the Gospels and D. A. Carson has excellent commentaries on Matthew and John.  I always find myself interesting in knowing more about people who have an impact on me.  Thus I was pleased to learn about this biographical sketch about his life (pdf).

Want to impress someone?  Or maybe you can make some money off this one.  Make a bet with a friend that you can memorize a chapter of the Bible in 2 hours that 1) you have never memorized before (and probably never even fully read) and 2) is longer than 80 verses.  Make the bet (bigger is better).  Then get to work on Numbers 7.

Here’s a funny cartoon. (UPDATE: I don’t think that link works as I wanted: here’s the right one).